Capítulo 5: 05 - Figuring It Out.
"Why lower your stature so much?" I asked in confusion. "You look forgetable in those fabrics," I remarked as I saw Superman's Terran disguise.
"That's kind of the whole point," Clark said as he adjusted his glasses. "They'd never suspect local journalist farm boy to be the Superman, right?" He laughed as he said so.
"Besides, this guy's the real hero..." Clark shined his teeth as he stared at the man in the mirror. "Superman is the symbol."
Yeah, I don't get what that's supposed to mean.
I closed the English dictionary and calmly placed it on the wooden table as I glanced at the Kryptonian's current appearance.
My Universal Translator chip implant worked by decrypting the speech patterns of the other person and running them into the algorithm. Gods were lazy, the fact that most races just looked like them was proof of that, and because of this reason, those races tended to develop similar cultures and languages...
There was only so much uniqueness you could place onto a certain race's culture, especially when their bodies all mostly looked and performed the same way.
Sadly, the Universal Translator wasn't advanced enough to translate both audio and text—so I needed to learn that myself, both to read it and to be able to convey my words when the near-inevitable situation that my Translator broke or was disabled by an outside source came.
Of course, Add could translate text, it was an AI that did not have a fleshy brain like I did, so it was easy for it to do so. But I couldn't just have a chip implant containing an AI, that sounded like a terrible idea—what if Add somehow got hacked or went rogue by itself?
There had never been an AI uprising in the Empire before, but that could very much be possible now considering the Empire was nearly dead...
"Hero?" I voiced out. "Is that what you're supposed to be...? A war hero? I guess it would be easy to earn merit when you're so much stronger than these people." I said with a nod.
"War hero...?" Clark looked at me with a confused expression before seemingly having an epiphany. "Ah, your people must have not had comics." He said, coming to that conclusion on his own.
Comics? What is that, another miraculous dish?
"Well, it's what the people of Metropolis call me, a hero," Clark said with a shrug before grabbing a cup of lukewarm water for a drink. "I can't really refute those statements though, not when all the people see Superman do is help poor old grandma cross the street and get cats off of the trees." He said with a smile.
"Is that what you are after?" I asked. "The reverence and worship of these...humans?" I asked, voicing the weird name this race had.
Every race actually did have a name separate from their commonly known one. This was because, with how many races there were, everyone had unanimously decided to appoint new official names based on their planets.
With that new system, the common man had a much harder time confusing one race to another, and the question 'Where are you from?' became devoid of meaning, thus saving everyone's valuable time.
That's why the people of Krypton were Kryptonians and the citizens of Viltrum were Viltrumites.
There were exceptions, of course, those that didn't like the naming convention because their planet was named after dirt, but those people's opinions rarely mattered—unless they were powerful, which they rarely were.
"No, not at all." Clark shook his head at my statement. "It generally helps to have a good reputation, people trust me and it's easier to get what I want when I'm wearing that cape." He said as he scratched the back of his head.
"But such a lame motivation like wanting to get famous and beloved can never fulfil me much as a person, at least, in my case—I don't know about those celebrities and actors..." The man said before glancing at the TV, which was currently airing an episode of what I presumed to be a drama show. "Like I said earlier, I just want to make people a little more happy today than they were yesterday."
Happiness...? I guess that makes sense, everyone wants to be happy, but this is the first for me to see someone wanting to make others happy.
Aside from servants, of course. But Clark was obviously not a servant, which confused me greatly.
"I see," I said with a nod, not putting too much thought into it. Clark Kent's deviant motivations mattered little to me.
I paused as I glanced at the surroundings, the interior of this living room distinctly different from the one I ventured to back in Smallville.
This was Clark Kent's second home, located in Metropolis's downtown area. He explained that it was an 'apartment', a smaller home attached to a larger complex.
I had seen such things on Viltrum before, those dormitories for the officers, but this was apparently different somehow.
The fact that it didn't translate as 'dormitory' proved that it was different and that dormitories were a separate thing on this planet.
"Ah, that reminds me." I said as Clark perked up at my statement. "My servant said that you wanted to show me something after I had woken, what would that be?"
"Servant? You mean your robot?" He asked, to which I nodded. "Well...it was just a whim at the time, but on hindsight, it might not be the best idea for you to go there..."
"Oh?" I was interested. "I see, it's a place, where would that be?" I asked with a curious look.
"Funny thing, actually." Clark said with a chuckle. "It was only a few kilometers away from where we fought."
Huh...?
How did Add not pick up on that?
"What is this place?" I asked with concern. "Is it some magical sanctuary? Then I'm not interested." I didn't quite like magic, especially after what happened to the Empire.
"Magical...sanctuary?" Clark raised his eyebrows. "...Does magic exist?"
What? Isn't this planet on a Magical Leyline? Why would they not know Magic existed?
"Yes." I uttered with a simple nod. "Though don't ask me much about it, I lack any real advanced knowledge on the subject." It was the truth.
"Huh..." Clark just blinked, before shrugging. "I guess it isn't the craziest thing, I mean, we're both aliens and you have a Skynet up in that ship." He seemed out of it.
"Right, I wanted to show you the Fortress." The Kryptonian said after snapping his eyes back to me.
"Fortress?" Now I was really interested. "I knew you wouldn't settle on living in such poor conditions." I lampooned after glancing around the apartment. "Show me this Fortress of your."
"Ouch!" Clark said, seeming to be genuinely hurt by my vicious words. "Poor conditions? And here I thought $4000 a month was good enough." He muttered sadly with a smile.
"You're lucky that you're the last Son of Krypton, if there was a female survivor out there, I'm sure should she'd choose you." I said with a smile.
"Oh, thank—" It took a second for Clark to understand the second meaning behind my words.
"..." What are you looking at me for? I'm speaking logically.
"Alright, alright." Clark said with a wave of his hands. "I'll show you the Fortress later...it's kind of a bother to switch back to Superman when I just got dressed." I should have probably asked him earlier.
"But first...!" He raised a finger. "We need to figure out your identity!"
I stared at him, not getting it.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "You already who I am. Lughal, Scion of the Viltrum—"
"No, not that identity." He shook his head before vanishing in a blur of afterimages.
After a few seconds, he reappared in the exact same spot with what was clearly a whiteboard.
No matter which planet I travelled to, certain things always looked the same—primarly chairs, tables, wardrobes, and the like.
He then retrivied a few dozen coloured markers before he started to draw a few things in the speed of sound.
The first was of a figure clad in a red and blue costume with an S on his chest—of course, it was Superman.
Then right next to Superman, Clark drew a figure that was completely identical to Superman aside from a different outfit and hairstyle, as well as a pair of glasses to subtly obscure his facial features.
"As you can see, I have two identities, two personas." The Kryptonian pointed out with an excited look. "One for all the Super-work, and one for daily life."
He then looked at me in an appraising way. "You definitely need one too."
I gave him an incredulous expression. "Why even bother?" I asked. "I'll just stay in my ship if my presence disturbs your activities."
"And miss out on ice cream?" Clark teased as he gestured at the leftover snacks on the nearby table.
That was a good point, but I was unfazed.
"I can simply have Add retrive a dozen whenever I want." I shrugged with a smirk.
"Hey, that's robbery!" He chastized but seemed to not have taken it that seriously.
"No worries, I'll just increase the zeroes in their bank accounts." I didn't really care about it, but Add could easily do that with how primitive the digital security on this planet was.
"Woah, don't mess with IRS." He gave a legitimate warning, but I just ignored it.
"Anyways, even if you want to live up there—won't it be more convenient in the future to have a human identity when you want to go back down?" He asked, to which I had no words to refute.
I mean, that's a fair point, better now then later.
"I think we should start with a name—it has to be something that fits you, but isn't so obvious." He then gestured back at the drawings.
"My real name is Kal-El." He pointed at the drawing of Superman. "But coincidentally, my Human parents gave me the name Clark—which is basically a perfect translation for Kal."
"Sure, there are names like Calvin, but those are too on the nose and might hint at my double identity..." He then glanced at me. "Let's see..."
"Lughal." Clark repeated my name as he stroked his sharp jawline. "I think Lugh is actually a passable Irish name, but..." He gave me a look to analyze my appearance.
"You don't look even a little Irish..." He said after a second.
I'm guessing 'Irish' is one the many ethnic variants of the locals...
"Then, what about...Lucan?"
"No, there is another Lucan amongst my deceased comrades." I say almost immediately.
Names are an important thing in Viltrum society, because we do not have surnames.
Important figures could be confused with another if they had the same name, that's why if a person gained enough strength to be a notable figure, but was unfortunate enough to have the same name as someone more important, there was a large chance they'd be killed by that more important individual.
In fact, this is the main reason most Viltrumites that had a moniker even bothered to make one.
While Lucan is indeed dead, I didn't want to disrespect his name by using it.
High-class Viltrumites had standards and shit.
"I see." Clark just nodded. "I got another one, uh..."
"Luke...?" He proposed.
That wasn't so bad.
Now admittedly, that was also a rather common name in the Viltrumite army, but I never personally knew any Lukes, so bad for them I guess...
Oh, wait, they're already dead!
I couldn't surpress a chuckle, which made Clark raise an eyebrow.
"What, does it mean something innapropriate in your language?" He asked.
"No, no. I don't mind it." I said with a smile before I regained my stone cold composure. "Luke is a suitable enough name, if not a little mundane."
"Alright." Clark nodded. "Hm...wait, do you have a last name? You know like a family name?"
I shook my head. "My culture does not support such a naming convention—our standing in society is solely based on merit and strength, not by heritage."
I say that, but it wasn't completely equal...
After all, as the natural inheritor of the most powerful set of Viltrumite genes, I naturally grew stronger at a much faster rate than my peers ever could.
"Wow, that's rather progressive." Clark seemed genuinely impressed. "But you still need a last name around here..."
"Why don't I simply be 'Luke Kent'?" I proposed with a neutral expression. "It would provide an acceptable reason for my frequent presence around you."
Considering the existence of surnames on this planet, they seem to provide great emphasis on familial ties—this was really common across the universe, so I wasn't at all surprised.
I also wasn't afraid to admit that I currently needed Clark's presence around me. I was an alien with little knowledge regarding the social norms of this world, but I learnt fast enough by just observing the Kryptonian.
After all, my primary goal here was the planet itself.
Learning from the many successful warmongers in the universe's history, natives tended to more easily accept conquerors who understood them.
And I liked things to be easy rather than being unnecessarily difficult.
"Oh." Clark widened his eyes before stroking his chin a little in a gesture of deep contemplation. "I guess we can justify you as being my adopted brother or something..."
"No, wait. The people in Smallville wouldn't buy that..." Clark muttered before looking at me. "Alright then, Luke. You're my long lost cousin from an estranged alcoholic uncle who drank heavily after his wife's tragic passing."
"...Pardon?"
"Yes, and child services got to him, so the responsibility of raising you fell on the last adult relative you had—me!" Clark announced. "That means I'll be your legal guardian who doesn't know much about you but is trying his best to be a supportive role model, damn!"
"Okay." I nodded with a raised eyebrow.
He seemed weirdly enthuastic about this made-up backstory.
Clark instantly picked up on my awkward tone as he scratched the back of his head and smiled. "Uh, sorry—my life isn't usually so exciting, you know...?" Says the strongest creature on the planet.
I just blinked at him without a comment.
"...Alright, now we need to figure out a new 'look' for you." Clark said as he appraised me from up and down.
"Can you spot the differences between the current me and Superman?" He asked like a teacher quizzing his student—a universal constant that no youth enjoyed.
"Of course." I said as I stared at his Terran disguise.
I had to admit, for a disguise, it was very impressive.
Clark Kent did indeed resemble Superman, but you wouldn't be able to tell that it was him unless you say him 'transform' between the two states.
Of course, that didn't apply to people like me who could hear the beating of people's hearts—even in this Terran disguise, Clark's heartbeats were like roaring stars, obviously not a Terran.
Nevertheless, it was still an effective disguise.
"Your hair is polished to be a like a docile worker, your stature is less confident, your eyes lack the shine of a leader, your clothes are humble and proper, and you have the demeanour of someone who follows the rules like a pet—you even look much less attractive." Even in this state though, Clark was still much more handsome that the Terrans I have seen.
After all, a race of mass geneticists like the Kryptonians would never allow their people to be any less than beautiful.
"...Uh, that was way more in-depth than I thought..." He seemed to genuinely regret asking me that question.
"But...uh, yeah, we need to get Luke Kent a distinctly different 'look' compared to—" He glanced at me. "—The Scion."
"If you're asking me to dress-up like a Terran of your fenotype, then I have to unpolitely refuse, Kal-El." I lampooned with little hesitation.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Clark looked like he wanted to cry manly tears.
But in the end, it was just the crocodile tears of someone that was playing around. "Anyways, that wasn't what I was thinking anyway..."
"Why did you say anyway twice?" That seemed pretty redundant.
"I can't...?" Well, fair point.
"The image of Superman—" He pointed at the drawing of himself. "—is pretty different from yours, right?"
I looked at him, not fully understanding what he was getting at.
"I try to be the polar opposite of Superman when it comes to temprament." Clark said. "Luke Kent would need to be the polar opposite of Scion..."
"It doesn't necesarilly mean being more humble or anything..." He glanced at me. "It just needs to be different."
"I understand." I said with a nod as I thought about my own persona.
How did I usually act like? And how do I act like someone that wasn't...me?
"I have just the thing fof you." Clark decided with a smile.
I waited for him to continue with a neutral expression.
"The current you—Scion—has a stern and cold demeanour, like a hardened soldier...am I wrong?" He asked.
Hm, not particularly.
I guess it was mostly true as most Viltrumites are expected to act like that.
"So that means, this Terran persona of mine needed to be the version of me that wasn't trained to be a warrior?" I asked the Kryptonian.
He seemed to lighten up before rapidly nodding. "Yeah, that was what I was getting at!"
I frowned. "I don't want to act like a weak or emotional person."
"You don't have to." Clark said. "Imagine what you would be like if you grew up on Earth, that's essentially it."
...I can't really imagine that.
"For me, I don't have to act as Clark Kent—what you're looking at right now is who I really am, because I did grow up here." Superman explained.
"But instead, it is when I wear the cape and get called Superman do I start to act—I never meant to do it when I started, it was an unconcious thing that I adopted from having two identities." Clark Kent explained.
"But I don't have to act all that hard, because Superman is just a version of Clark Kent that has superpowers—now just imagine a version of you that was born human, you'd be surprised by how different your temprament becomes." Both Clark Kent and Superman explained.
A version of me that does not have the powerful abilities of a Viltrumite.
Who is Luke Kent? I don't know yet, and I hesitate to see what he might be like.
A weakling that clings onto his emotions? I truly don't believe so—no version of me would be like that, not even in the worst timeline.
Whatever it takes, I have to prevail, I have to be stronger, and I can't fall into weakness.
If there is a version of me that lacks strength, then at least, he has to be better than the weak.
"I'll figure it out on my own later." I decided as I stared into the Kryptonian's blue eyes. "This is quite the interesting dillemma you have given me, I feel that I understand you more now, Kal-El."
Yes, no wonder he was living amongst these weaklings—the Kryptonian was training his mind to better resist weakness! To fully understand himself and his flaws!
That's why he has a double identity; Superman to embrace his own strength and Clark Kent to spot his potential weaknesses to weed out before they could even grow.
I didn't want to admit it, but the reason why Viltrum died was because of our own hubris.
And blind arrogance was a weakness, was it not? I'm quite sure that they wouldn't have carried out that malevolent ritual if we were aware of just how dangerous the forces that we were playing with actually were.
We were sure that we could deal with the demonic backlash, we knew it would happen, but we weren't worried about it.
We in fact, couldn't deal with it.
The fall of Viltrum would have never taken place if we knew just how weak we were in the grand scheme of the universe.
Had we known our own weakness, we would have ceased being weak on the spot and placed all our efforts on truly becoming the strongest race instead of dreaming about the past.
I admit, I hadn't expected such a sharp and adaptive mind from the usually rigid and moronic Kryptonians.
"Uh, okay..." Clark just smiled, not really quite sure on how to react to my words.
"Alright, if you want to figure out the temprament yourself, that's fine—but we still need to figure out Luke's appearance."
We started figuring it out...
===
A/N: Sorry for the 2 day delay, was busy reading LOTM 2.
Originally titled this chapter [Fingering it out] by accident, so glad I spotted it at the last second.
And could you guys give more positive reviews? Some goober made a 1-star review because Lugh hasn't yet gotten his costume, you know, the one in the thumbnail, and started calling it clickbait.
Mate, this is still the 5th chapter, slow your tits.
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